First-hand report from Cuba :- during and after Hurricane Gustav

( The following is an email sent to Karen Lee Wald, an activist in the US, from Cuba)

Karen,

Isla de la Juventud: practically 100 % destroyed. Boats lifted from the sea and parked in the middle of Nueva Gerona, buses twisted and lifted in the air, doors and windows ripped off, banana plants of course ripped out, communications down 100 percent, and I have not yet seen any videos because I got my electricity back just one hour ago, a flamboyan fell on the lines feeding just our house soI have been without any electricity for 48 hours,but enough water, small radio, gas to cook on and the most wonderful neighbors and solidarity that only peoplewho have lived in Cuba can understand.

But I have been able to listen to the daily Mesa Redonda, where Arleen has spoken over the phone with the heads of Defensa Civil and other organizations and everything is "bajo[under] control". Never before has there been such palpable organization: here in the city, loudspeakers all over town calling on people to go home and not put their life in danger with electric cables, and on Sunday calling everyone to come out and cooperate with cleaning up the city. Trucks started cleaning up the city on Saturday evening already, and yesterday everyone was out with brooms, saws, etc.. We had to put up signs and yellow ribbons so people would not go near the fallen cable, they could have been electrocuted.

Pinar del Rio: also very very bad situation, south coast had up to 7 km sea inland, not a single life lost, not a single person wounded badly so you might fear for his life, but very serious destruction in schools, tobacco drying houses, communications and electric systems (already "linieros" from all over the rest of the country have arrived with their trucks to help.

Las Terrazas: very very bad situation with most of the facilities (as you know, they are ranchones, the roof just flies away and there is practically nothing you can do about it); only rio San Juan and Las Ruinas de Buenavista held out; private homes have also been very badly damaged, I am not going to call to distract anyone from their intensive duties and only regret that because of age I cannot join in the reconstruction brigade. The problem is going to be now that such a huge part of the country must be reconstructed that building materials are going to be hard to get.

But everyone is very grateful because for the very first time ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE FROM THE HIGH SPHERES WAS GOING AROUND THE AFFECTED PROVINCES: Machado Ventura and Lazo in provincia La Habana, Lage in Pinar del Rio after having been in Isla de la Juventud, police cars all over the place helping neighbors out, and of course all this makes people think how different things would have been if we compare ourselves with poor Haiti or even Jamaica. Let us all hope for the best for New Orleans.

I have plenty of mails to write to put people at ease, a lot of international solidarity, I got a lot of calls from the US and Europe, it does a lot of good to know people are really worried for you!

Love,

Maria Carla